Brief Overview of Collection, MC70

Name

Samuel B. Barker Papers

Dates

1949 - 1998

Extent

2.25 cubic feet

Historical Note

Samuel Booth Barker was born on March 3, 1912, in Montclair, New Jersey. After graduating with a B.S. degree from the University of Vermont in 1932, he attended Yale University and Cornell University where he received his Ph.D. in physiology in 1936. Barker remained at the Cornell University Medical Center in New York City until 1941. Dr. Barker then moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he became a full-time instructor in physiology at the University of Tennessee Medical Units. In 1944, Dr. Barker took his first faculty position in the physiology department at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. In 1952, he accepted a position as a professor of pharmacology at the Medical College of Alabama. He remained in Birmingham until 1962 when he accepted a position in the pharmacology department at the University of Vermont. Dr. Barker returned to Birmingham in 1965 as director of Graduate Studies. In 1970, he was appointed first dean of the UAB Graduate School, a position he held until 1978 when he retired and was designated Dean Emeritus. From 1979 to 1985, Barker was director of the graduate program in the UAB Department of Physiology and Biophysics. Named a Distinguished Professor at UAB in 1976, Barker maintained close relations with UAB after his retirement and until his death in Birmingham on September 3, 2002. Dr. Barker and his wife, Justine Rogers, developed a strong interest in the arts in Birmingham, including dance, painting, sculpture, and the theater